I grew up walking railway lines,
Long forgotten
Deliberately so,
Packed under layers of mud,
Hardened by the footfall
Of closer ghosts
Bodies in carriages,
Sailing back to blood
Back to soil
The hands that formed us
The lands before us,
Of Giants and seafoam
Of stranger behaviour,
Spade and saviour,
A speckled sonder,
Pushed by the coal
Carried under
skin-
The new house shakes.
Trembles by the rumbling
Lumbering creature,
The sun stretching its shadow
It ambles across
Behind picketed gardens,
Crawling the ladders
I look from the window,
Notice brown, crisp ivy
Clinging to red brick
I think,
“It must look beautiful in summer”
And yet, it's August already
I sit,
Bones slumped in my seat,
The train does not rock me gently,
More so shudders me to sleep
Kate Bradley is an artist from Gateshead, now based in Glasgow, with a practice in poetry, devising, and songwriting. Their artistry is rooted in a folk-style of story-telling, finding the fantastical in the mundane. Their work revolves around themes of loss and grief, regional and queer identities, and finding home. In 2022, they won the Elaine Campbell Poetry Competition with their original piece In The Busy Silence, and now regularly perform at different poetry nights in Glasgow. Check out https://linktr.ee/Kate_Bradley to find their work, and follow them @createbradley on Instagram to stay up to date with their performances.
